14 November 2007

Energy Performance Certificates update

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Interesting online seminar held by Property Week yesterday on energy performance certificates (you can still download it on their site after a brief registration). here's some highlights:

How much do they cost? - There was a general consensus from the expert panel of three that a certificate for a large building would costs in the region of £2-3,000. WSP Energy director Chris Stubbs pointed out the likelihood of a bottle-neck when the roll out out takes place next year when demand for them will reach sky high so the price may go up.

The reason for the delayed roll out - Carol Sweetenham, deputy director in charge of EPCs for the Department for Communities and Local Government put the delay down to industry feedback which suggested that the systems for EPCs needed to bed down before they had to deal with a huge number of them, ie they weren't ready for the 1 April deadline. "We don't want to place too much pressure on the market to start with," she said.

Will they change the world? Not on their own. WSP's Stubbs said he thought most buildings would not rate well (E-G) and to tackle the existing stock was a major challenge. "I don't think you can make it (the existing stock) A or B," he said.

Some way to go - Answering a question as to whether operational certificates (ie measuring actual energy performance rather than an assessment) will be a requirement in the future Sweetenham was pretty non-committal. There are not plans for this in the short term, she said. Surely a missed opportunity?

Timetable - More timetables for other parts of the UK. In Scotland EPCs will be required on 4 January 2009. In Northern Ireland they will be needed on sales of buildings in mid-2008 and on rents in January 2009.